The Group Project Class came into being by a request from Linda ?? of URIC's Environmental Education Center for a "large" woodcarving to be used at the centers "bonfire" lecture area, located behind the centers buildings in the woods. After mulling around the idea for a while, Jim O'Dea and Ray Johnson came up with the idea of a class at the Retreat where "large" carvings are created by the students and left as a donation to the Universities Environmental Education Center.

This page is a work in progress. if you have any photos of the Group Projects you would like to share please send to Jim O'Dea jeodea@aol.com

2009 - "Environmentalist" Figure We created a full size "Environmentalist" figure. Many people including one who worked for W. Alton Jones believe it looks entirely like him. This Group Project will continue in 2010 with some cleanup and finishing of the figure and the addition of some items to create a diorama in the area where it is displayed. That area currently includes the flying geese that the "environmentalist has been watching.

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2008 - Geese: The flying geese were created from Basswood blanks.

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2007 - "Fantasy Environmentalist": - created to support award presentation ceremonies at the Center. This project was instigated by a request from Linda ??? of the EEC. Ray Johnson developed that pattern, procurred and cut the wood and led the group.

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2006- Ram Head: Ray Johnson lead this group, procured the pattern and cut out the pieces of Basswood used in the project.

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2005 - Moose: Frank Basch lead this group project. He volunteered to provide the pattern and lead the group during a year off of his from "day job" while he tried his hand at carving Moose for various restaurants and customers. Frank Basch obtained the Eastern White Pine wood used and he, Ray Johnson and Harold Griffin sawed it out into many pieces. It was carved and assembled inside and taken outside where it was painted and now is displayed in front of the main building at EEC. Ken St Vincent subsequently has added many coast of water proofing and preservative. We are still evaluating the effectiveness of using glued up projects outside.

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2004 - Eagle: John Zigler lead the group, developed the pattern and prepared the blank pieces for the "Bellamy" style Eagle which now hangs on the wall above the stairwell in the main dinning room.

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2003 - Fawns: Ray Johnson lead the group again this year carving a pair of Fawns to accompany the Doe. The Fawns were designed and constructed to be displayed on the same base as the Doe

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2002 - Doe: A full size standing Doe was created from 7 pieces of Basswood plus the base which is a piece of ???wood. Ray Johnson, Harold Griffin and Norm Slatter collaborated on the advance preparation of the Doe blank. This was an ambitious project and while it progressed smoothly through initial painting on Sunday afternoon, Jim O'Dea and Norm Slatter felt it needed refinement and worked diligently throughout Sunday night into the early hours of Monday morning to correct perceived flaws in the neck area. The doe is on display in the main dinning room area on left of the fireplace.

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2001 - Red Tailed Hawk: A Red Tailed Hawk was carved from 4 different pieces of Basswood and glued together after each piece was 90% carved. Final blending and painting was accomplished after assembly. Ray Johnson lead this group project, providing a pattern and preparing the basswood blanks in advance. This was the first year we went to glued up blanks for the projects which was necessitated by our inability to find large logs suitable for carving and thus shifted our focus from outside projects to indoor projects. The hawk was not painted during the Retreat but Ray Johnson, Ken St Vincent and others returned to paint and hang it a few weeks later. The Hawk is hung from the ceiling of the main dinning room by piano wire as if it is going after the food on the plates.

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2000 - Racoon: A tree full of Racoon's was created from one large, uniform section of Eastern White Pine log that was not a stump nor had any branches. It was roughed out with a chain saw on Friday morning before the Retreat by Norm Slatter and Ray Johnson. Ray Johnson organized and lead this group project. Most carving was accomplished inside, then moved outside for applying the finish. It currently resides on the side porch of the main building at the EEC. Also during this Project, class members got to carve there own individual racoon from a rough out and instruction book that Ray had put together. click for larger image. click for larger image. click for larger image.

1999 - Bear: The first years class produced a 6 ft tall bear standing on a 2 ft rock. We had procured an 8 ft long Eastern White Pine log and after evaluating the proportions of a bear, decided not to cut the extra length off the log but instead utilized the extra length available as a base, thus the "rock". This class was sponsored by the ARBORTECH company who sent a representative, Lois Henery, to the Retreat with sets of ARBORTECH tools to lead the class. It was completely carved outdoors and currently resides on the side porch of the main building at the EEC

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